I’m not much for signs or superstition. But I do occasionally read my horoscope or descriptions of my birth signs Leo/Dragon and am amazed by how accurate they seem to be… A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of all the crazed packing of relief goods at our office in Cebu City, we had an unexpected visitor… a white dove flew onto our property and landed on our pile of plastic basins and hung around for several minutes. Long enough for me to run into the office, get my camera and take these snap shots. We have had unusual fowl before, here, but more hawk/brahminy kite than docile doves.

Doves are apparently white pigeons(?) and are NOT a common sight in our parts. In fact, I have never seen one flying around in the past 10 years of going to Cebu. So unless a neighbor was having a wedding reception and had recently released doves in their garden, I have no idea where this one came from. The crew was quite exhausted yet cheerful at this point, having spent over a week on double duty, and I just thought this to be an incredible coincidence, or not.

White doves have all sorts of symbolism for those in the Christian faith. Noah sent one out from his ark to seek signs that the “deluge” had subsided, and when it returned with an olive branch it was a sign that things were getting better. Let’s not go much further than saying doves are considered a sign that the Messiah is coming. Forget that I always wondered how Noah stored enough feed for all those animals on an ark, let alone considerations about accumulating fecal matter on the vessel after 40 days all cooped up at sea. But we had just experienced our version of a “mini-deluge” in the Visayas, so this was a bit twilight zonish…

At any rate, the dove hung around for a while, hopping onto our makeshift tent, watching all the goings on. Then I realized that it wanted some of the fallen grains of rice… the inevitable result of massive and swift repacking efforts. But with so many people around, the dove didn’t quite get to forage on the cement driveway. I once read somewhere that you shouldn’t feed pigeons (at the time, it was in Central Park, NY) stale bread because it gives them constipation. That’s a bizarre thought in and off itself… can you imagine pigeons with CONSTIPATION? :) So I wonder if seeds and grains of rice are better for them. I wouldn’t want a mini-dump of “risotto” on my baseball cap from a dive-bomber pigeon flying up above.

Whatever the reason for the unexpected white dove visit, I personally took it as a good sign that things WOULD INDEED get better in the days ahead. :)

COMMENTS:

EJ
says:

A sign of better days, for sure. Thanks for sharing, MM.

Dec 9, 2013 | 7:10 am

besYS
says:

Yes, a sign of better days.

And speaking of birds, my husband works for a Bay Area City transport company, as a locomotive mechanic. He once told me that their Central Equipment & Maintainance Facility (CEMOF) was experiencing problems with “bird droppings” from the pigeons. Feces scattered everywhere, smelly, harmful to people and property, ugly sight and the cleaners were so tired (expensive too) cleaning the facility. Then someone suggested to place FALCONS. They bought several statues of falcons and placed them on all corners of the roof. The falcons are timed to release a sound to frighten the pigeons. Effective! Now, they have no pigeons around and everyone’s happy! :-)

One McDonald’s closer to our home has also the same problem, they placed OWLs instead.
You can also see the pigeons hanging around the traffic lights and posts, esply when it’s winter time bec. they like the heat of the traffic light. See the Green, Yellow, Red lights and the silhoutte of pigeons! :-)

I’ve read a newspaper article about these birds in a San Francisco park leaving a huge mess of feces. The city officials are spending $$ to clean up that park. :-(

besYS, they should make them into adobo. Squab is quite the chi-chi dish… During WWII I think they took to eating them when meat was scarce.

Dec 9, 2013 | 7:52 am

besYS
says:

** correction:

CEMOF – Centralized Equipment Maintenance Operations Facility.
;-)

Dec 9, 2013 | 7:54 am

besYS
says:

MM,
Yes. my husband suggested to just capture and sell them to restaurants. :-)
But his co-workers told him that he’s bad and crazy. hahaha!
Just like when he was in the US Army, he was assigned in a Jungle in Vietnam (War, now you know his age. haha!) They were starving, homesick, got nothing to do ( buti na lang walang barilan) he saw BAYABAS, and BANANA trees full of fruits! 2 Fil-Ams immediately climbed the bayabas tree and kumain sila sa may puno! Americans were stunned – hungry and shocked! hehe!
My husband told them “if the birds can eat this fruit, so can we” I don’t know about that principle. But of course alam nya na masarap ang bayabas.
That was the start of him, being a “fruit tree consultant” for his troop. haha!
** Just to brighten your day and the week ahead. :-)

Dec 9, 2013 | 8:17 am

ami
says:

Surprised to know that doves aren’t common in Cebu. I seem to see a lot of them in Manila.

Dec 9, 2013 | 9:59 am

Khew
says:

Pigeons are never constipated (but they should be!) cos’ they crap all over the place.

Dec 9, 2013 | 10:12 am

Papa Ethan
says:

Hmmm… maybe a portent of the Pigeon Air Force mentioned a while back? =)

Bread is really not that dangerous to pigeons, except that it is not very nutritious. Once in a while is ok, too often, not so good.

Rice on the other hand, is a bad idea. It’s not that they get constipated (can’t poop) but rather that they get impacted (can’t process/digest) Pigeons can eat and process seeds but rice is difficult because it starts to swell and get gummy in their crop.

Dec 9, 2013 | 11:15 pm

Getter Dragon 1
says:

I agree…better days ahead. Both post Yolanda and the Philippines as well. My take with the Philippines and global progression its Asian neighbors is that it took an act of nature (and two questionable administrations) for the west to forget about the Philppines. Post Yolanda, I think western writers are now doing a double take on the Philippines, sort of like meeting an old friend once again.

Going through the Yoland posts, many of the comments offered prayers and blessings. The dove is indeed represenative of many things in Christian lore, more importantly that of the Holy Spirit. You and your team are already blessings to so many prayers. The Gospels say ‘the last shall be first and the first shall be last’. In the time of aid, you and your team were among the first there.

Happy Holidays MM and Team Zubuchon

Dec 10, 2013 | 6:53 am

natie
says:

I believe!

Dec 10, 2013 | 9:01 am

EbbaBlue
says:

2nd the motion Natie…hear ye, hear ye…He is still in control. The firehouse of hope.

Dec 10, 2013 | 9:13 am

MP
says:

Hahaha only you MM would think about Noah’s feeds and fecal concerns… that cracked me up!